But, that doesn't mean with 8GBs, 7 are wasted. Your server will not perform well with 1GB. Unless he is talking about the 1GB for SQL. But, you would want (if you have 64-bit to get at least 8GB to 12GB as you may add SQL Standard later.
To add to Bert's comment. It should be pretty clear that SQL isn't the only thing running. Not to mention, SBS/Exchange is optimized to use the maximum amount of RAM it can. SBS 2011 recommends a minimum of 8GB. You get a warning for anything less during the install process. I've ran SBS in a VM and it is quite sluggish with anything under 8GB.
Secondly, why are we even having this argument? RAM is ridiculously cheap. I saw 16GB of DDR3 Corsair XMS3 RAM go for 55 bucks last week. That's the good stuff too. 8GB can be had for as little as 30 dollars. (This isn't ECC RAM though). Just avoid those 8GB sticks because they are still pricey at the moment.
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